The Best Italian Food in Montréal
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The best Italian food in Montréal, according to the experts: Canada's 100 Best, Air Canada, and Cult MTL have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Pasta Pooks comes out on top.
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Gia Vin & Grill and Nora Gray hold the next two places. Air Canada shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Canada's 100 Best next.
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Rank 1. Pasta Pooks
Italian
Fresh pasta is made each morning before the dining room opens, which tells you most of what you need to know about this snug Italian spot on Clark. The menu is short and brash: a few antipasti, a genuinely unhinged Philly cheesesteak, filled pastas in buttery, precise sauces, and a small run of desserts. The natural wine list skews slightly nerdy in the best way. Canada's 100 Best landed it at number 47 for 2026.
The awards
- Canada's 100 Best Canada's 100 Best: #8 · Best New Restaurants
- Air Canada Air Canada: 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best Canada's 100 Best: #47 · Best Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best #8 · Best New Restaurants
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best #47 · Best Restaurants
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Rank 2. Gia Vin & Grill
Wood-fired Italian
The kitchen is a wood-fired rig inside a converted garage dressed up with subway tiles, and the menu drifts through seasonal Italian territory, from antipasti at lunch to grilled arrosticini and handmade pasta at dinner. It comes from the team behind Elena and Nora Gray, so the natural wine list is long and taken very seriously, which in Montreal is less a quirk than a baseline expectation. A reliably convivial neighborhood restaurant on Rue Lenoir.
The awards
- Air Canada Air Canada: 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best Canada's 100 Best: #71 · Best Restaurants
- Cult MTL Cult MTL: The Top 25 Restaurants in Montreal Right Now
- Air Canada 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best #71 · Best Restaurants
- Cult MTL The Top 25 Restaurants in Montreal Right Now
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Rank 3. Nora Gray
Italian
The striped black-and-white awning marks this low-lit Italian restaurant on what is otherwise a quiet residential stretch of St-Jacques. The kitchen takes familiar Italian foundations and nudges them somewhere unexpected without making a fuss about it. Fellow restaurateurs and Montréal creatives fill the room most nights, which tells you something. Griffintown has changed around it, but Nora Gray has been the neighborhood's dinner-party reference for a long time.
The awards
- Air Canada Air Canada: 2012 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Tastet Tastet: 101 Must-Try Restaurants in Quebec
- Cult MTL Cult MTL: The Top 25 Restaurants in Montreal Right Now
- Air Canada 2012 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Tastet 101 Must-Try Restaurants in Quebec
- Cult MTL The Top 25 Restaurants in Montreal Right Now
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Rank 4. La Spada
Roman
The awards
- Canada's 100 Best Canada's 100 Best: Recommends
- Cult MTL Cult MTL: The Top 25 Restaurants in Montreal Right Now
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Rank 5. Impasto
Italian
The awards
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Rank 5. Moccione
Italian
An olive oil negroni greets you before the Italian food even begins, which tells you something about how this restaurant on Saint-Denis thinks. The menu runs from crispy arancini and house-made pasta to scallop crudo with fennel granita, traditional instincts with a restless edge. The wine list is carefully chosen, the service warm without being theatrical, and the room feels like somewhere the chef actually wants you to enjoy yourself.
The awards
- Air Canada Air Canada: 2019 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. Mano Cornuto
Italian Café
The awards